Of seals and siblings: Teresa/Matilda (d. 1218), queen of Portugal and countess of Flanders

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present article demonstrates that material culture offers medievalists an often untapped primary source, in this case the seals of Matilda of Flanders (d. 1218). Born Teresa of Portugal, she was the daughter of King Afonso Henriques of Portugal and Queen Mafalda of Savoy; as wife, then widow of Count Philip of Flanders, Matilda issued two double-sided seal types. By foregrounding the material traces connected with the countess, an unexpected picture unfolds of a self-conscious royal heiress and staunch promotor of her natal family. Here it is shown that Matilda's seals share signifying elements with those of her royal siblings Sancho and Urraca, arguing that her seal was part of an explicit statement of familial connections. This visual declaration reveals a previously unrecognized chapter of the countess’ history, in which she asserted her place within the Portuguese dynasty from her new lands in the County of Flanders.